You see, this lawyer ran for and lost the election for county judge last fall. And the man who was elected had a temper tantrum after seeing the Republican-In-Name-Only ad and said the lawyer wasn't an active Republican since he didn't bother to show up at the dinner party.
Not only do these guys not play well together amongst themselves, but they injected themselves into a city level issue that has its own set of sparks flying. True to politico's nature, they are arguing not about the issue itself, but whether it should go to vote by the people instead of just passed by city council.
The city council is Republican heavy with a Democrat for a mayor. A woman mayor sitting with an all male city council. On the table right now is whether or not they should become a non partisan city council, which they believe will open the door to more candidates with less costly campaign tabs since they won't have to campaign during primaries. I wonder who's the RINO in that issue.
The city's population is sitting close to 22,000 and it is the county seat; the county itself is 56 percent rural with a total population of 76,000. Smack dab in the middle of the Fayetteville Shale Play and the natural gas boom, the area has been economically insulated - until the last few months. The gas companies have all but shut down drilling and pipeline building since the price of natural gas is so low. The county treasurer was the only one cautious about the area's sudden boom and did her best to keep the Quorum Court from overspending the excess income. The city's heated issue mentioned above is whether to slap a 2 percent tax on hotels and a 1 percent tax on restaurants (A&P tax) to dive into the pockets of the drillers, roughnecks and pipeliners; something that, if implemented now with the gas all but nil, would drive local business even further down.
The story goes a lot deeper, but this is enough to illustrate the points I made yesterday about our social structure as based on capitalism driven by consumerism. Let me play devil's advocate here and blatantly blurt out loud what no one has dared to ask: What if the economy never turns itself back around? What if the whole she-bang just collapses? To be honest, I think the writing has been on the wall since the early 1980s!
I took a course once called "American Hegemony," which included the history behind our economic, political and military growth - and the unbridled exploitation of third world countries, minorities and women. It opened my eyes, changed everything and plunged me into a deep depression by the end of the semester. Finally, during one of the last classes, I asked the professor, "How can this all be fixed?" His solution: self-contained, self-sufficient communities that traded with other communities for necessities. He said he came to this conclusion based on the fact that all boundaries are only political and serve to contain the people, but not business - which has proven out to have far more rights than people.
OK, we just might evolve in that direction and come closer to Gene Roddenberry's vision of a Utopian culture. But, the problem is the transition, and I doubt that it would be anything less traumatic, bloody and devastating than, say, Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis and 8.0 earthquakes hitting every area, every single inch of the country, all at once!
I've had nightmares about New York City and Long Island becoming a huge pile of starving humanity with everyone fighting for scraps of food. The exodus of millions into the countryside would leave behind devastation and pillage exponentially greater than what happened during the Civil War. People without the land and know-how to raise and grow their own food will be shit out of luck. There would be no choice but to band together in small groups to hide in defensible areas because it would be impossible to survive alone.
Hence, in one nightmare is the key to what it truly means to be a social creature. Throughout the nightmare are points of light: spiritual and safe groups living life the way it was meant to be lived, dedicated to advancement, the evolution of man and its planet.
The End. Yes, it's near, very near. But, it's not the end of the world. It's the end of life as we've known it. Can it turn out any other way? Ask yourself if the paltry, petty local government illustrated above would be able to lead through the difficult transitions ahead. If your answer is "no," then you'd be in agreement with me. As small and mostly rural as this area is, it would still become a war zone when the Big Picture collapses.
The whole point of this is to prompt you to think through the possibilities. Remember just how much we are never told by our government, the think tanks and the cartels that pull all the strings behind the scenes. Think about what it would take for you to survive if the whole thing imploded in on itself. Think about how you would want to live after all the dust settles.
Most of all, think about greed. Greed cancels out life. You sure can't doubt that nowadays, can you?
Well...T, as my son Shawn said when I asked him what would he do in the face of nuclear war, and he responded "run as fast as I can towards ground zero" In other words, check out, as fast as you can and thereby say goodbye to the too ugly to imagine aftermath.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was shocked that he said that, but after thinking it through some more I think hes probably right.
I honestly dont know enough people I like enough to want to be in a "tribe" with, and some of the ones I wouldnt mind would be for all practical purposes a liability in such a scenario.
K, expand your thinking on this. Not everyone will have the skills and strength to farm, so to speak, but that does not mean that they are without value. If you don't think beyond the transition stage, you won't be working toward anything and that in itself is worthless.
ReplyDeleteTheresa, my thoughts are you had better have the skills to hunt, farm, and shoot your fellow man with a well placed bullet if needed. Anyone not physically fit to do so would be a burden under those circumstances.
ReplyDeleteWe know a farmer that raises his own everything. Has a huge garden, cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and even a catfish farm that he fishes from. He makes jerky out of every kind of meat you can imagine. He asked me once If I wanted a piece of catfish jerky he had just made. NO THANKS! lol!
Benny Hicks is the only person I know that if it all came crashing down tomorrow and even if there was no electricity would not only survive, probably wouldnt miss a meal. Ron and I mentioned this to him once and he said...."yeah right, Id survive until someone came along with more, or bigger guns and took it all away from me." Hes right you know.
So unless you are so much the survivalist you could put a bullet in Bennys head to take away all that was his for your own benifit Id say the more noble solution is to leave him alone and "run for ground zero".
Very few people have the skills needed to survive on their own. But, that doesn't mean that they wouldn't be able to learn! Starvation, survival can be a pretty strong motivator.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's why it will be important that groups form. Call it tribes if you want.
I would much rather stick to holding life as something to cherish and revere. If you were Buddhist, you'd know that if you checked out as the easy way out this time, you'd just have to come back over and over until you got it right. That should be a good incentive to get it right the first time!
Very thought provoking post. I tend to think that what we call 'capitalism' is completely unsustainable. Like our food, we need to take our money back down to a local level, invest in our communities, local businesses, local farms. Bring it back to those close to us. That is what sustainability is all about.
ReplyDeletejen
http://www.bodaweightloss.com/blog
I don't remember exactly when it was, but 30 odd years ago, there was a big push to pay small farmers not to produce. In rural, upstate NY, it wiped out all the farming. Even today, if you buy a small farm through some federal program (all I can think of is HUD), you have to sign an agreement not to sell anything raised on that farm. With all of our food "manufactured" now, and the local farmers gone, it will be a very tough transition to bring back. But, I agree. That's exactly what needs to happen! Even without the collapsing economy that's what needs to happen. We need to take back control of our lives and remove it from the greedy, inhumane conglomeration of Big Business and government.
ReplyDeleteWant Change? We can have it with two words put in action "Term Limits". It is as needed for congress as it is for a president.
ReplyDelete"We need to take back control of our lives and remove it from the greedy, inhumane conglomeration of Big Business and government."
Couldn't agree more! :-)
I hear that!
ReplyDelete